The House of Representatives has proposed to repeal the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007, in a bid to arrest the alleged trend among revenue generating agencies of the Federal Government to hold on to money they make for the federation instead of remitting it to government accounts.
Findings on Sunday indicated that the Act would be re-enacted to “plug the loopholes” in the law, which the agencies capitalise on to keep the money they generate.
The report of an investigation by the House Committee on Finance, which was laid before lawmakers in November 2012, showed that between 2009 and 2012, for instance, the agencies failed to remit a whooping N9tn to government coffers.
A House source, who disclosed the plan of the lawmakers to our correspondent in Abuja, explained further, “The Fiscal Responsibility Act, as we have it now, is weak in addressing the issue of revenue remittances. It gives escape routes to the agencies to continue to generate and spend their money without appropriation under one excuse or another.
“The Act allows them to generate revenue, spend it on their operations and remit operating surpluses to the government. Capitalising on this provision, most agencies invent all manner of tricks in the name of expenditure to ensure that they spend all they generate, leaving little or nothing to government.
“There are those that simply keep all that they generate year-in-year out. Some will even come before the National Assembly to claim that they are operating at a loss and that they need additional funding by government. They tell unbelievable tales just to withhold the revenue they collect.”
It was also gathered that the individual Acts establishing the agencies would be amended to delete the provisions empowering them to spend money without recourse to the National Assembly.
Investigations revealed that at least 100 agencies would be affected in the first phase of the review to deny them any legal backing to withhold the revenue they generate.
Our correspondent gathered that agencies like the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigerian Ports Authority and other major revenue earners would go ahead to spend their annual budgets as soon as they were approved by their boards in line with the powers conferred on them by their enabling Acts.
The Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Mr. Abdulmumini Jibrin, confirmed on Sunday that the Fiscal Responsibility Act and the laws establishing most of the revenue agencies were set to be reviewed by the legislature.